Some July Dreams

I've had a few dreams this month. I report them because I suspect they might contain some interesting elements, that perhaps reveal things about me and others. I am sure that I am sometimes (but not always) psychic.

1. In the dream, I felt a premonition that CN (a woman who years ago I saw at a track meet and then wrote a letter to) would be good at industry and retail. This then turned out to be true. CN manufactured these white clocks; they were circular shaped, about 6 inches in diameter, about 4 inches thick, and heavy. They had her name on them, in script, signature style. CN also handled the retailing of the clocks.

2. Me and ED's (ED = a woman who attended same college I attended) family and friends were tossing around a football on Pond St. SC (an adult male I know) was there also. SC was wearing strawberry colored pants. Sometimes during the course of the playing football, my head would be near SC's groin area; at these times, his groin area did not seem to be clean. ED's hair was long and wavy and black and her body was slimmer than it has been in the past.

3. I represented the US in the Olympics as a pitcher on the US baseball team. I pitched 7 innings, during which the other team did not score a run. In another Olympic event (skyscraper climbing without safety net or safety harness): I climbed up the outside of a skyscraper; at the top I had to thread some string between a black lady who was clinging to the outside of the skyscraper, and the skyscraper, because I was using this thread to climb down the skyscraper; on a ledge of the skyscraper I got the string I was going to use to help me climb down the skyscraper out of my pocket, it was all tangled up, there was not alot of it, most of it was thin string; but somehow miraculously I succeeded in getting down the skyscraper safely. When I got back down to the ground, I found out that HL (a local woman) and the King had been killed in a fire set by revolutionaries; this made me feel very sad. Then I was in Harvard Square, where I was physically attacked by a dozen or so young adult white females of average height and build, because they thought that me not allowing any runs during the seven innings I pitched meant that I had done a bad job as a pitcher for the US baseball team. Two short brown hispanic males saved me from the attackers and explained to them that actually, the pitcher not allowing any runs in seven innings meant that the pitcher had done a good job, not a bad job. Finally I was on my way home through Arlington MA, I was somewhat lost, there was nobody on the streets.

4. EG (a woman who I saw at a track meet and then sent a letter to) and HM (a woman who I met at a local bar who came on to me) were squatting in a dark hut that had no lighting inside. They appeared to be nude, I could see how white their skin was. They both had short straight black hair. There were two or three children with them. I saw one of them. She had shortish wavy black hair, a pretty intelligent smiling sociable face, the body and face of a grade-schooler, but she was only about one foot tall.

5. I was playing floor hockey with some young adult males. I was playing well. Then me and those I played with were in a room, but not playing hockey. A short, narrow faced, thin, yellow-haired, white, clean-shaven young man said something impolite to me. I slapped him and knocked him down, but nobody did anything because everyone felt I was in the right. Then some of the hockey players involved themselves in an activity wherein they taped up their wrist and their hands with black tape and engaged in boxing matches with each other. I sat out the boxing, did not engage in it.

Dream: having Danny Rudolph's keys

About 940 PM, 7/24, I woke up from a nap after having had a dream, which I consider notable for the feeling of folksy relaxation in it, which has been missing from my life in real life. As I fell asleep, and while having the dream, this guy sitting outside the neighboring apartment was on his cell phone on the back porch, talking in a loud relaxed tone of voice to someone. I had thought he was a young  hispanic man. But he was a balding thin guy in his 50s, who was white. His relaxed voice had the effect of relaxing me, while I had the dream.

The main character in the dream was Danny Rudolph, who I went to grade school and high school with, at U of Chicago Lab Schools. In the dream: I was at a place that was like a cross between U of Chicago Lab School and a summer camp for grade school age children, of the type I went to as a child (I actually was a cabin-mate of Rudolph's for a month once, but after that in the subsequent years, they put me in cabins in which I was the only white and my cabin-mates were all black).

In the dream, I met with Danny Rudolph. He looked as he did in high school, but a little older. He roughed me up physically in a friendly way when I met him as was his habit when I was skinny compared to him; but I was no longer skinny compared to him. Then Danny and me went our separate ways for a while.

In the dream, I had my brother's keys, and Danny's  keys, and my keys in my pocket. Confusion developed in my mind regarding which keys were whose. I went to the place where the lockers were and put a key into locker #618, which was either my brother's or Rudolph's locker (I knew whose locker it was in the dream but cannot remember now), to figure out whose keys were whose, by seeing which key would open the locker. Then confusion developed and I had to do the same thing yet again, to figure out whose keys were whose; I had to do it yet again once or twice.

This was happening during the lunch recess; I devoted the lunch recess to resolving the problem, I was in a rush and put alot of energy into trying to resolve the problem quickly, before the lunch recess ended. I was in I think the dining hall, and I ran down a trail to this place that was like a cross between a small library and a stationary store, because I wanted to get some little stickers, so I could put stickers on the keys and not get confused anymore.

In the little library, the librarian had these little colored stickers, about the size and shape of coins, on a table next to her. She gave me some black ones, I did not have to pay for them. I sat down at a desk in the little library, and started with the task of getting the protective layer off the sticky side of a sticker, and affixing one to a key so as to distinguish it from the others. But people had left their keys on the desk, so the problem of distinguishing key from key, became yet again complex and confused.

Then I was speaking with Danny, and I was telling him the truth-- at least one of these plastic sleeves that people use to put on the head of a key to distinguish key from key, had come unattached from a key in my pocket, creating confusion regarding which key is whose (I myself have been using such sleeves, but one of them has recently gotten lost).

'Issa, Yayzoos' Battle Cry: a dream

I was asleep July 19, during the day; the heat was extreme. I had a remarkable dream. In the dream:

I was in a big vehicle with about a dozen young-adult white males. Most of them had brown hair. One of them was a werewolf. The werewolf looked normal, except his teeth looked a little strange. I was sitting right next to the werewolf. I said to him, "you're the devil, and I'm Jesus".

The vehicle deposited all of us at a big house that looked like it was out in the country. In the house, a fight developed, with half of the young men who were in the vehicle on my side, and the other half of the people who were in the vehicle, including the werewolf, on the other side.

I was using a sword that was slightly curved, long (about 5 feet long), and narrow (less than 4" in width). My opponent (nice handsome looking clean-shaven young adult white male with black hair) in the battle, the one I was fighting with, had the same kind of sword. I sort of cornered him in between what looked like a refrigerator, a wall, and some furniture.

I was shouting out a battle-cry: "Issa (the name of Christ amongst Arabs), Yayzoos  (Yayzoos is the phonetic of the name Jesus in the original Greek scripture, the name for Christ that I use in my poems), Issa, Yayzoos, Issa, Yayzoos etc; just those two words repeated over and over. My opponent had no battle cry.

The sword was in my left hand. I lifted the sword up and to my right, and swung it downwards and to my left. It seemed to me that the sword stroke hit my enemy , with a somewhat weak glancing blow on the upper part of his left shoulder, to the side of his neck.

But what actually happened was, that the sword-stroke cleanly cut off his head.
Then me and my approximately half-dozen guys fled the house, and hid near some parked cars. I was telling them that we now had a problem because we now had no getaway car.

Then I woke up.

Zimmerman shooting: high-class people off the mark in their analyses

Reviewing the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, I was reminded once again, of how disorderly it is, that I (socially and financially trampled as I am) am able to perceive things that hundreds of high-status, financially well-off, verbose people fail to understand.

According to the reports, on the night of the shooting: George Zimmerman, was 5'8" tall, and weighed 200 pounds; and, Trayvon Martin was 5'11" tall and weighed 158 lbs. Zimmerman said that, the night of the shooting, he estimated Martin to be between 5'11" and 6'2" tall. 

Martin was wearing a 'hoodie' (hooded sweatshirt), which would have made him appear to be 6'0" tall. The sweatshirt would have made Martin look wider and thicker, and produced a degree of ambiguity regarding Martin's actual weight (reasons why 'hoodies' are popular with 'gangstas'?). 

Zimmerman did not know how much Martin weighed. For all Zimmerman knew, Martin could have been anywhere between 160 and around 240 lbs. Zimmerman knew that Martin was black. Blacks are known for their strength, their unarmed fighting abilities, and their courage when it comes to streetfighting.

Therefore, (IMHO as of now) it appears to me to be unbelievable, that Zimmerman would have instigated the  punching/wrestling with Martin. 

Undoubtedly Zimmerman was aware of the fact that a punching/wrestling wrestling match with Martin (such a fight undoubtedly took place) would involve the danger of the firearm he was carrying on his person, being taken from him and used against him. Indeed, the fight involved a struggle for the firearm. We often read about men being shot with their own gun.

And so, Zimmerman would of course not have initiated a wrestling/punching contest with Martin.

If Zimmerman truly intended to without provocation shoot Martin, he would have kept his distance when firing the lethal shot.

The lack of insight manifested by the rich, respected and famous regarding the Zimmerman shooting, is not something that blacks falsely accused of crimes can intelligently take comfort in. 

Roots of Hyper-strict USAF Aerobic Fitness Standards

Multipliers can be applied to events such as the 1.5 mile run and the 1 mile walk, to estimate what a man's time in the 2-mile walk would be given knowledge of the man's time in the 1.5 mile run.

Looking at the data produced by such multipliers, it appears that the current USAF 'Fitness Standards' are excessively demanding in terms of speeds at which Air Force men are required to run 1.5 miles. I estimate the root of this errors, is to be found in mistakes made by Canadian military officers, when in 1977 they wrongly concluded that the existing Canadian military standards for 2-mile walk speeds were too liberal, and exceedingly tolerant of slow speeds.

The multiplier I came up with for converting time in the 1.5 mile run USAF) to estimated time in the 2-mile walk (Senior Canadian Officers), is 2.08. Based upon this multiplier, the current (from at least 2005 - 2013) USAF projected standards for the 2-mile walk would be:

Men age 20-29: < 22 mins excellent; 22-27 mins good; 28 mins, marginal; >28 mins, poor.

Men age 30-39: < 23 mins excellent; 23-27 mins good; 28 mins, marginal; >28 mins, poor.

Men age 40-49: < 23 mins excellent; 23-28 mins good; 29-30 mins, marginal; >30 mins, poor.

Men age 50-59: < 25 mins excellent; 26-32 mins good; 33 mins, marginal; >33 mins, poor.

In 1977, A Canadian Armed forces study, concluding that the Canadian 2-mile walk standards were too lax, advised that the new more strict standards should be:

Men age 40-44: < 21 mins excellent; 21-24 mins good; 25-29 mins, average; 30-34 mins, fair;  >34 mins, poor.

Men age 45-49: < 23 mins excellent; 23-25 mins good; 26-31 mins, average; 32-35 mins, fair; >31 mins, poor.

Men age 50-54: < 24 mins excellent; 24-27 mins good; 28-32 mins, average; 33-36 mins fair; >36 mins, poor.

Men age 55-59: < 25 mins excellent; 26-29 mins good; 30-35 mins, average; 36-39 mins fair; >39 mins, poor.

The 'lax' Canadian standards for the 2-mile walk in place in 1977:

Men age 40-44: < 26 mins excellent; 26-28 mins good; 29-33 mins, average; 34-37 mins, fair;  >37 mins, poor.

Men age 45-49: < 27 mins excellent; 27-29 mins good; 30-35 mins, average; 36-40 mins, fair; >40 mins, poor.

Men age 50-54: < 28 mins excellent; 28-30 mins good; 31-36 mins, average; 37-41 mins fair; >41 mins, poor.

Men age 55-59: < 30 mins excellent; 30-33 mins good; 34-39 mins, average; 40-43 mins fair; >43 mins, poor.

You can see that my extrapolation is that the USAF if it was grading 2-mile walk times, would label a 55 year old man to be in 'poor' aerobic condition if his time in the 2-mile walk was >33 minutes. Having done a timed 2-mile walk almost daily for about 3 weeks now, this strikes me as too harsh.

If every 55 year old man whose 2-mile walk time was above 33 minutes was considered to be in 'poor' aerobic condition, most of the 55 year old men would be diagnosed as in 'poor' aerobic condition. if a 55 year old man were to be considered to be in 'excellent' aerobic shape only if he could walk the 2-miles in less than 25 minutes, almost nobody would be considered 'excellent'.

(IMHO as of now) the Canadians who analyzed the Canadian 2-mile walk standards and recommended stricter standards, failed to account for the fact that aerobic fitness is not the only factor influencing 2-mile walk speeds. They found some Canadian military men who had been marching all their lives, hooked their mouths up to gas analyzers to measure their VO2 Max scores, and found that (gasp) despite their low aerobic conditioning as reported by the gas-meters, they were being graded as 'good' or 'excellent' for their 2-mile walk times. And so the Canadian revisionists called for harsher grading of the 2-mile walk times.

What the Canadian revisionists failed to understand, is that aerobic fitness is not the only determinant of 2-mile walk speed. Factors such as talent (the military attracts men who are good at marching), time spent practicing marching/walking, skill, muscular strength, pain, pain-tolerance, and ligament/tendon/joint fitness also effect 2-mile walk speed.

Hence, a man who has had much practice and training in marching, is capable of a fast 2-mile walk time despite a weak aerobic fitness level.

Therefore, the fact a man with a low aerobic fitness level is able to walk 2 miles quickly, does not mean that standards should be tightened so that the time in which he walks the 2-miles is no longer judged as 'good', but is judged as 'poor' instead.

North American militaries being too strict and demanding with regards to speeds in events such as the 1.5 mile run and the 2 mile walk, could negatively impact said militaries, and harm the nation and the world. The over-emphasis on speed in walking/running events results in an under-emphasis of other important attributes. Over-exercised men, are tired men lacking in physical and mental energy (athletes at college track meets often seem tired out due to overexertion). Men who put alot of time and energy into training for events such as the 1.5 mile walk and the 2 mile run, have less time and energy available for other activities.

Regarding the public health in general, the lesson here appears to be: the fact that you are capable of an excellent time in some walking or running event, does not necessarily mean that your aerobic health is excellent, because aerobic fitness is only one determinant of speed in such events.

The potential combination of the error of hyper-strict aerobic fitness standards, PLUS the error of over-emphasis on a low abdominal circumference, both errors occurring in the USAF Fitness Test, gives cause for alarm.

References:

2-Mile Walk Times & Fitness Status

David Virgil's Blog: USAF Fitness Test Defects

USAF Fitness Charts

An Evaluation of the Canadian Forces Two-Mile Walk as a Test of Aerobic Fitness in Males over 45 Years of Age

USAF Fitness Test Defects

On its 'Fitness Score' exam ( less than 70 points = 'poor', 90 or more points = excellent), the USAF gives men 30 pts if their abdominal circumference is less than 32.5 inches, 21 points if their abdominal circumference is 40", and 0 points if it is more than 43"!

The USAF standards unfairly denigrate tall men (at 5'10" tall I am taller than 60% of American adult males), & unfairly advantage short men. If I was proportioned as I am now but shrank from a height of 5' 10" to a height of 4'9" tall, my score on the USAF 'Fitness Exam' would be such that my 9 point disadvantage compared to the studs with abs-circumferences of less than 32.5" would vanish.

What is the USAF trying to do, favor short men with narrow and weak torsos? Apparently, the USAF, has produced within itself, an unnatural predominance of the personality traits associated with narrow weak lower torsos, and short height. The narrow torsos are of course correlated with narrow shoulders. The narrow shoulders are correlated with low testosterone levels and a relatively  'unimpressive' appearance (such is what we seek in our Air Force men?). The USAF prejudices as reflected in their 'Fitness Test', infect even civilian life.

I have an abs-circumference measurement of 40" though I am not fat. Why? Because, all the soccer air-dribbling (sprints of 7-20 yards, done while juggling the soccer ball) I've done, has built up the muscles on the sides of the lower torso, the front of the stomach, and the lower back; also by nature I have a wide torso. I've noticed the muscles on the sides of my stomach have come to resemble those on a statue of a greek God (diffuse side-light is a good light for the body). I have impressively wide shoulders.

My waist at the point where my abdominal circumference (40") is measured is approx 13" wide and 10.5" deep. I estimate there is a layer of fat about 0.2" thick. If I had 0 inches of fat, my waist measurement would still be 38" (and the USAF would still penalize me, if I was 25-55 years of age, 8 points on the 'Fitness Score', relative to the score someone with an abdominal circumference of 32.5" would receive).

I figure if I lost all this muscle I've put on, my abdominal circumference would shrink to about 31.5". Then the USAF would not handicap me by 9 points compared to the guys with abs-circumferences of less than 32.5", but I would no longer flaunt unique strengths I now possess.

Unfair as the USAF "Fitness Test' would be to me, imagine what would happen to a hypothetical twin, 'BigDave'. BigDave is proportioned just like me, but he is 6'4" inches, six inches taller than me; his abdominal circumference is 43". BigDave would fall 30 points behind the 'studs' with abs-circumferences of less than 32.5" on the USAF  Fitness Test, simply because his waist size is 43".

The USAF test looks at: the 1.5 mph run or a VO2 Bike Test, abdominal circumference, push-ups done in 1 minute, and abdominal crunch repetitions done in 1 minute.

My abdominal circumference is 40". Hence, for all the way from the under-25 to 55+ age groups, the USAF test penalizes me 9 points compared to the 'stud' whose abdominal circumference is less than 32.5 inches.

If I was in the <25 age-bracket, improving my time on the 1.5 mile run from 16:54 to 14:55 would merely make up  the lost 9 points (equivalent to an improvement of 80 SECONDS on the mile run).

If I was in the 50-54 age-bracket, improving my time on the 1.5 mile run from 20:36 to 17:37 would just make up  the lost 9 points (equivalent to an improvement of TWO MINUTES on the mile run).'

If I was in the <25 age-bracket, improving my pushups-in-one-minute score from 8 to 63 would do nothing more than make up the lost 9 points.

If I was in the 50-54 age-bracket, improving my pushups-in-one-minute score from 1 to 40 would do nothing more than make up  the lost 9 points.

If I was in the <25 age-bracket, improving my abdominal-crunches-done-in-one minute score from 3 to 52 would do nothing more than make up  the lost 9 points.

If I was in the 50-54 age-bracket, improving my abdominal-crunches-done-in-one minute score from 3 to 40 would do nothing more than make up  the lost 9 points.

Think thats bad? Imagine if I was not 5'10" tall, but 6'4" tall, while continuing to be proportioned the same as I am now, and named 'BigDave'. BigDave's abdominal circumference would then be, 43.3".

For all the way from the under-25 to 55+ age groups, the USAF test penalizes BigDave and his 43.3" abdominal circumference, 30 points compared to the 'stud' whose abdominal circumference is less than 32.5 inches.

If BigDave was in the <25 age-bracket, improving BigDave's time on the 1.5 mile run from 20:36 to 12:55 (equivalent to an improvement of 5 MINUTES on the mile run) would do nothing more than make up the 30 points BigDave fell behind by on account of the dreaded abdominal circumference measurement routine.

If BigDave was in the 50-54 age-bracket, improving BigDave's time on the 1.5 mile run from 26:06 to 15:19 (equivalent to an improvement of 7 MINUTES on the mile run) would do nothing more than make up  the 30 points BigDave fell behind by on the dreaded abdominal circumference measurement routine.

If BigDave was in the <25 age-bracket, Bigdave improving his pushups-in-one- minute score from 3 to 75, combined with Bigdave improving his stomach-crunches- done-in-one-minute score from 3 to 65, would do nothing more than make up 20 of the 30 points BigDave fell behind the 32.5" abs-circumference 'studs' by, on account of his 43" waist.

If BigDave was in the 50-54 age-bracket, Bigdave improving his pushups-in-one- minute score from 0 to 45, combined with Bigdave improving his stomach-crunches- done-in-one-minute score from 3 to 50, would do nothing more than make up 20 of the 30 points BigDave fell behind the 32.5" abs-circumference 'studs' by, on account of his 43" waist.